Maverick Aces scored back-to-back victories over Super Smashers and Solitaire Shuttlers, and propelled their position from bottom of the table to be tied at the top with Rajdhani Royal and Solitaire Shuttlers at the end of the third round in the third edition of the NSCI Badminton League at the NSCI badminton courts, Worli.
The Second Session, saw Maverick Aces come back from being one match down to eventually defeat the Super Smashers 3-1. First blood was drawn by Super Smashers as Ajay Hinduja & Sankket Gandhi lost to Ashish Kapila & Ronny Marfatiya 21-17, 20-22, 14-15.
However the resurgence of Maveric Aces proved too strong for their opponents as Amir Valiulla & Saamia Shah defeated Nikay Chokshi & Sejal Seth 20-22, 21-8, 15-10 in the second rubber; Pratik Chhabra & Darshak Tanna defeated Chirag Mansukhani & Gurpreet Soni 21-12, 21-9 in the third rubber; and the pair of Ajay Hinduja & Raj Goleccha sealed the victory by defeating Ketan Damania & Abhi Jain in straight sets of 21-10, 21-19.
The Third Session, saw Maverick Aces use their momentum to clinch a narrow victory over Solitaire Shuttlers in a draw which went down to the last match. The Aces lost the first rubber with Amir Valiulla & Abhishek Nalwaya losting to Nikhil Mansukhani & Amay Vurdhaman 20-22, 13-21. The popular Maverick Aces pair of Saamia Shah & Sanket Gandhi however defeated Bhavika Ahuja & Deepak Sancheti 21-6, 21-11, in what was a comprehensive win.
The third rubber saw the Mavericks lose grip as Rishabh Poddar & Sanath Aggarwal lost to Neeral Shah & Naresh Mirpuri 18-21, 11-21. However their resurgence was undeterred as they fought back in the fourth and fifth rubber with Pratik Chhabra & Darshak Tanna defeating Adnan Bearingwala & Amit Vardhan 21-07, 21-18 and big guns Sandeep Dhillon & Rajnish Gupta bringing it home by defeating Tushar Zaveri & Keyur Gandhi 21-18, 21-13.
Sandeep Dhillon the star player of Maverick Aces
Maverick Aces, Solitaire Shuttlers and Rajdhani Royals are tied at 1st position with two points each, and King Shuttlers, Roaring Raqueteers and Super Smashers are tied at 2nd with one point, leaving the league still wide open.
Results: Solitaire Shuttlers beat Roaring Racqueteers 3-1 (Neeral Shah & Naresh Mirpuri bt Jai Sinthalia & Vishal Anand 21-15, 21-16; Kavita Jain & Anil Sonthalia lost to Neelam Chhabra & Tushar Zaveri 15-21, 14-21; Manish Jain & Alok Aggarwal bt Kareem jaffer & Ritesh Gupta 21-12, 20-22, 15-12; Nikhil Mansukhani & Amay Vurdhaman bt Hamir Desai & Sangram Kadyam 21-15, 21-17).
Super Smashers bt King Shuttlers 3-0 (Ashish Kapila & Gurpreet Singh Soni bt Anil Jain & Mehul Aggarwal 21-7, 21-17; Nilay Choksi & Sejal Seth bt Nitika Thakur & Varun Balsara 21-16, 21-17; Ketan Damania & Siddhart Doshi bt Bimal Parikh & Karthik Motha 21-13, 21-10).
Rajdhani Royals beat Roaring Raqueteers 3-2 (Sandeep Dhillon & Nikhil Bhansali bt Vipul Sanghvi & Diyan Jain 21-10, 21-12; Mayur Saraf & Priyanka Haria bt Jai Sonthalia & Shalini Kandhari 21-19, 21-16; Mayur Saraf & Jeet Kapadia lost to Jai Sonthalia & Hamir Desai 18-21, 16-21; Rajendra Mehra & Ayush Golecha lost to Ravi Mal & Sangram Kadyam 5-21, 12-21; Sandeep Dhillon & Rajnish Gupta bt Tushar Zaveri & Keyur Gandhi 21-18, 21-13).
King Shuttlers beat Rajdhani Royals 3-2 (Mehal Agarwal & MR Mehta lost to Sandeep Dhillon & Nikhil Bhansali 10-21, 14-21; Sonali Parekh & Tanmay lost to Mayur Saraf & Puja Kothari 14-21, 10-21; Pradip Gandhe & Varun Balsara bt Mayur Bhojwani & Rajendra Mehra 21-14, 16-21, 15-10; Ronit Nagpal & Aksh Shah bt Ayush Golecha & Nirav Savla 21-12, 21-14; Sunit Kabra & Pranamaya Joshi bt Sunil Sheth & Rajnish Gupta 21-11, 21-12).